New arena. Big development. Landmark building.

Those are the things that normally get attached to the word “regeneration”.

Peterborough’s latest £1.5 million city-centre investment sounds considerably less dramatic: accessible toilets, greenery, seating, market stalls and things children can climb or sit on.

Which raises a surprisingly good question.

What if some of the boring stuff is exactly what a city centre needs?

The plans include new accessible public toilets, more planting and greenery, around 20 moveable market stalls, and designs for “playful structures” around Cathedral Square and St John’s Square.

The structures could provide both informal play and extra seating.

Earlier proposals also mentioned better lighting, benches, bins, wayfinding and improvements around Town Bridge.

None of that gives Peterborough an instant wow factor.

But think about an ordinary Saturday.

You’ve got children with you. Someone needs the loo. It’s hot.

 There’s nowhere pleasant to sit. You’re not quite sure where something is. There isn’t much happening once you’ve finished the thing you came in for.

Those little irritations shorten visits.

So perhaps £1.5m spent making the centre easier and nicer to use isn’t quite as unambitious as it sounds.

The danger, of course, is spending money on attractive street furniture and expecting it to create life by itself.

A bench needs something worth sitting near.

A market stall needs a trader people want to visit.

A public toilet is very welcome but probably nobody has ever texted their mate saying, “You HAVE to get into town, you should see the loos.” Unless of course you want to pay a quid to use a squat toilet in Cambridge.

Peterborough needs reasons to come and reasons to stay.

This money may be better at solving the second problem.